Irish League is a viable option for Scottish players who want to play at a good level, says Linfield defender Euan East

Several clubs have utilised the Scottish market so far this summer as Crusaders have brought in four new arrivals from across the Irish Sea, with Coleraine also agreeing a deal with Airdrieonians for winger Lewis McGregor.

Larne have enjoyed success with the likes of Scottish trio Rohan Ferguson, Shaun Want and Andy Ryan in recent years, with Kieran Offord and Callumn Morrison joining Linfield last January - plus several others at various clubs.

With that in mind, East, who signed a contract extension at the end of the season, believes the Irish League is building a new reputation as a viable career path for ambitious players in the UK.

The 24-year-old said: “This is a good league. It’s a good option for Scottish players who want to get game time at a good level. It’s competitive football with big matches in front of decent crowds.

“It does not surprise me at all to see Scottish players coming over here. It’s good to see.

“I’ve enjoyed every minute of my time here, so I was happy to stay.

“There were a couple of things going on, but I just thought Linfield was still the best fit for me.

“The club have been really good to me and wanted to show everyone that appreciated that. So I’m delighted that I’m staying – I think everything worked out well in the end.”

East, who joined the Blues at the start of the 2023-24 campaign from Queen of the South, will embark on another European campaign next month as Linfield face League of Ireland champions Shelbourne.

Their opponents have been rocked with Damien Duff’s decision to step-down as manager ahead of the first qualifying round tie in the Champions League.

However, East said he and his team-mates will be solely focussed on their own affairs and will avoid outside noise.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s the League, the Irish Cup, the League Cup or Europe, we always want to perform as well as we can,” he stated.

“It would be special to do what Larne did and qualify for the league phase, but there’s a lot of games to be played before then. We will just take it a game at a time and see what happens.

“I’d be lying I said I watched a lot of League of Ireland, so I don’t really know exactly how good Shelbourne are, but I know they will be a good team.

“We know it will be a tough game and that we will have to be ready. Before that we’ve got Dungannon in the Charity Shield, so we will focus on that first and worry about Europe after that.

“We’ve not really spoke about their managerial situation at all, we’re just focused on ourselves and focused on pre-season. We’ve not got round to thinking about that game, so that’s not something we’re thinking about.

“At the moment we’re just working towards the Shield game with Dungannon. Pre-season has been tough, but we’re all really enjoying it and looking forward to the new season.”